


The Bars Between Us

by Trexi



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Era, Gen, Post-Magic Reveal, Post-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25257247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trexi/pseuds/Trexi
Summary: It was meant to be a simple hunting trip. But then there was an injured child, an angry mob, and a flash of gold. Now they’re in a derelict dungeon under a village on the outskirts of Camelot, bars between them, and the truth as clear as the fast approaching dawn.
Kudos: 45





	The Bars Between Us

**Author's Note:**

> I swear that I'm about to get back to working on my ongoing fics, but the idea for this one-shot came out of nowhere and then I wrote the entire thing in one go.

Arthur sighs, the sound as bone-deep tired as he looks.

“I’m sorry,” I say again.

He waves it off. “I’d have done the same.”

His voice is hoarse. It shouldn’t surprise me, not after all the yelling he did mere hours ago, but it still does.

I lean against the bars and force a teasing smile. “Something you’re not telling me, sire?”

He glares at me. My smile drops. Arthur shakes his head.

“I wouldn’t have done it like you did,” he says. “ _Obviously_.”

“Obviously,” I repeat quietly.

“Don’t be like that.”

“Like what?”

“All sullen,” Arthur says. “It doesn’t suit you.”

“You’d be surprised,” I mutter.

Arthur throws a rock through the bars. I let it hit my arm.

“You could’ve stopped that,” he says.

“You could’ve thrown it harder.”

Another sigh from the Prince. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks.

I bite back my instinct of pretending to not know what he’s talking about. It’s too late for that. He might not know everything, but he knows enough.

“You’d have chopped off my head,” I say; it’s meant to come across as a joke, but instead it’s a little too honest.

Arthur nods, but then he says, “I wouldn’t have,” and I don’t know what to do with that. Not like this. Not now.

“You’ve only known me for a year,” I say, and before he can explain, before he can say something about trust and friendship that won’t matter come dawn, I keep talking. “Too bad these villagers don’t believe you’re their prince, huh? Maybe they’d listen to you then.”

“The King’s not going to react well when news of this reaches him.”

“No,” I say, “I imagine he won’t.”

Arthur sighs again, and I really wish he’d stop doing that. “Father will take the betrayal personally.”

“He might not believe them. It’s not like they have any proof of sorcerery.”

“They have eyewitnesses, Merlin.”

“Witnesses can see wrong.”

“They can,” he says slowly, like I’m being particularly stupid, “but that hardly matters given that I won’t exactly be in a position to defend myself by the time he finds out.”

“You could be,” I say, but Arthur just sighs again, and I am so close to shattering these bars, so that we can both leave and never look back.

“The entire village agrees on what happened, Merlin. Neither of us was particularly subtle.”

There’s no being subtle when there’s a beaten child surrounded by an angry mob.

“But you’re his son. Surely, your word counts for more.”

“He banished some of his closest friends for being suspected magic sympathisers during the Great Purge,” Arthur says, “and he’s only gotten harsher on the matter since then.”

I swallow back something hard. “At least the child got away.”

Arthur smiles, his first since we were escorted into this underground dungeon. “At least there’s that.”

“If you hadn’t tried to defend me, you’d be on your way back to Camelot by now,” I say.

“ _Mer_ lin.”

“No, Arthur. It’s true. You know it.”

“There was no way of expecting how the villagers would react,” he says, glaring at me, but the bars are still between us, and his glare softens. “I wasn’t going to let them execute my friend for his magic.”

I laugh and only sheer force of will keeps it from turning into sobs. “Because that did _so much_ good, didn’t it? I bet you’re so proud that you were loyal in that moment.”

And that, that’s enough to bring out Arthur’s true rage.

“What did you expect me to do, Merlin?” he shouts. “Let them kill you? Run you through myself?”

I glare at the bars, these gods-damned bars. “Maybe you should have. At least then I wouldn’t have to go through this waiting.”

“You could leave at any moment, Merlin,” Arthur says, stepping away from the bars, as the village guard stalks down the dungeon stairs.

Visiting time’s up then.

“Not without you,” I swear, gripping the bars.

Arthur sighs, but this one, this one isn’t his ‘I’ve given up’ sigh.

“I suppose that I’ll see you at dawn then,” he says.

The guard grabs my arm and drags me away from the cell.

“You can count on it,” I say.

A couple of hours to plan a rescue attempt is more than enough time. And if subtle fails, I’ll show this village which one of us really has magic.

**Author's Note:**

> Did anyone figure it out early? If so, what gave it away?


End file.
